Your chance to get involved in Cheltenham’s BIG Museum Project

The Wilson Art Gallery and Museum presents: Cheltenham’s BIG Museum Project: Test Space

Your collections, your stories, your museum - Friday 31 January to December 2025

The team from The Wilson Art Gallery and Museum, managed by The Cheltenham Trust, an independent and not-for-profit charity, are inviting local people to help transform the collections galleries. Read on for full details...

Since 2020, the collections galleries have been closed for renovation.The renovation work is almost complete, resulting in four large, modern collections galleries which will become your museum. They will showcase well-loved Cheltenham stories alongside hidden stories relating to the people who lived and worked here. The stories and objects we share will be selected with Cheltenham’s communities through the consultation work carried out in the Test Space.

This project has three phases:

Phase one – Community consultations
A broad range of consultations, both at The Wilson and out in our communities, have been used to inform phase two of the project.

Phase two – Testing ideas with communities
This part of the project will see the launch of Cheltenham’s BIG Museum Project: Test Space, to include:

• An exciting interactive exhibition designed for you, a place to shape the future of your museum.
• An extensive community outreach programme through our Museum on Wheels mobile feedback stations.

Phase three – Reopening the museum
Feedback collected throughout the year within the Test Space and mobile stations will contribute to the design, curation, and interpretation of your new museum.

We want to connect with our communities, so over the next 12 months, we will be listening to you. You will be making an important contribution towards shaping the museum’s future. This will include opportunities for you to share Cheltenham’s stories with us within the Test Space.

The Test Space can help us make sure that the collections galleries are representative of Cheltenham’s communities. To achieve this, we need your help.

We will be running workshops in the Test Space to explore these stories further and think about our connection to Cheltenham’s past, present, and future. Your involvement will help us to share and shape Cheltenham’s stories and select the objects for the collections galleries.

This free exhibition will provide visitors with the opportunity to help us decide how to display this history in a way that is meaningful to, and shaped by, Cheltenham’s community. The Test Space will be updated regularly to give us the opportunity to trial different objects, stories, activities, and interactives.

This project is not just happening at The Wilson but around town as well. Keep an eye out and you may see the Museum on Wheels roadshows popping up in different places, as well as sharing surveys online and visiting community hubs.

Cheltenham’s BIG Museum Project is not about the museum; it’s about the communities we serve.

Cheltenham’s BIG Museum Project is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we will be able to create a space that celebrates Cheltenham’s heritage.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund supports projects that connect people and communities with the UK’s heritage.

Cheltenham’s BIG Museum Project has also been made possible with the support of the Friends of The Wilson, Museum Development South West (with thanks to support from Arts Council England and the Art Fund), Cheltenham Borough Council, and the generous contribution of individual donors. Every donation, no matter how small, helps the museum to bring heritage and history to life, providing learning, education, and inspiration for everyone to access and enjoy.

To get involved contact - [email protected]

For further information go to @HeritageFundUK on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram #NationalLotteryHeritageFund  www.heritagefund.org.uk